Wiper blades for moving water on flat surfaces such as floors are commonly used in Israel and North West Africa. In other places in the world squeegee wiper blades are used mostly in industrial and institutional premises where there are large quantities of water.
The method of working with a wiper blade on a stick or handle is as follows:
1. Pushing the water
The user walks forward and pushes the squeegee with the stick or handle away from him moving the water forward. This method is suitable for industrial applications with large quantities of water.
2. Collecting the water
The user draws the squeegee with the stick or handle towards him pulling the water towards him.
Most conventional flat wiper blades are flat rubber blades contained in a track and fastened thereto with screws or attached under pressure or by threading therein, etc. A handle or stick is attached to the track. Such wiper blades become warped and break down quickly.
Squeegees made of a single piece rubber, not requiring a track are also widely used. These squeegees are made of synthetic or natural rubber, are hard and tough on one side with flexible blades on the other side. The combination of these two properties makes their performance better than the conventional squeegees and gives an exceptionally long life expectancy. Such squeegees are described in Israel patent IL119568.
U.S. 2011/107,551 (Cassar) describes a squeegee of broom attachment that provides lateral flexibility between the handle and the squeegee blade (or broom bristles) via symmetrical open-ended recess cavities, thereby providing left/right bending of the attachment with respect to the squeegee.
One problem with collecting water using presently available squeegees is as follows:
Starting Position:
When a user uses a squeegee to collect water, he/she usually starts with holding out the squeegee a meter or more away from the body. In such a position, the squeegee is at an angle of about 40° with the floor. This is an optimal, or at least, preferred angle, in which the squeegee collects water effectively and leaves the floor relatively dry there-behind, and there is no need to put significant pressure on the wiper blade.
Intermediate Position:
The user brings the water towards him/her over a distance of 50 cm from the body. In these 50 cm, the angle of the squeegee to the floor is changed from about 40° to 65° as the squeegee gets closer to the user. This range between 40° and 65° is the range in which the squeegee still collects water/liquid well and the user still does not have to put significant pressure on the wiper blade.
Last Collecting Stage:
The user further pulls the squeegee towards him/her, getting relatively close to the user's body. In this stage of collection, the angle of the squeegee with the floor fluctuates from about 65° to 90° . In the range of these angles, the squeegee is not efficient because the end of the blade is very thin providing a very small contact area with the floor surface. Therefore, the user needs to exert more pressure on the squeegee, so that the blade of the squeegee will change its angle to the floor to a sharper angle ranging from 40° to 65°.
With squeegees for floors available nowadays, the change of angle of the wiper blade to the floor is carried out by exerting pressure and bending (arching) the blade. Since the exerted pressure is not uniform along the entire length of the blade, but rather greater on the center section of the wiper blade underneath the stick, the blade does not bend uniformly, and more bending/arching occurs in the center section of the blade. The arched section of the blade is highly tensioned, and this may even cause the wiper blade to shake while in use, i.e., while pulling/pushing water which makes it harder for the user to control the blade.
There are also window or windshield wipers of numerous types that have been developed over the years for various applications some of which are described below:
GB2432109 describes a wiper blade for removing water from a surface including a plurality of wiper blade segments that ensure optimum contact with the surface being cleaned. The wiper blade may be operated by hand, as a squeegee, or by mechanical means, for example in windscreen wipers of a vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,109,606 discloses a cleaning device which is durable, efficient and convenient to handle. This is a cleaning device that may be employed for cleaning small and inaccessible surfaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,028,367 describes a wiper blade made of methyl vinyl silicone polymer, a filler and a friction-reducing additive.
U.S.2002/032,945 discloses an elongated rubber wiper blade that includes a base portion fixed to the wiper blade, a neck portion, and three lip portions in which a central lip is suspended from the base portion through the neck portion at a central portion of the underside of the base portion, while lateral lips branch off from the central lip on lateral sides thereof.
It should be noted that some of the windscreen wipers for cars described above have a specially configured top portion over a base section along the entire length of the base for inserting into a track.